A Doctor's First-Hand Look at the Patient Experience

In Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy, Mary Roach chronicles both the history of body part replacement (including prosthetic noses that date back to the 1500s), as well as more recent medical breakthroughs.

The First World War, which lasted from 1914 until 1918, ushered in a new kind of mechanized warfare. Bodies were maimed, burned and gassed, and as many as 280,000 combatants were left with ghastly facial injuries. Medical historian Lindsey Fitzharris says soldiers who suffered facial injuries were often shunned in civilian life.

Medical historian and surgeon Ira Rutkow points to physical evidence that suggests Stone Age people conducted — and survived — brain surgery. We talk about the evolution of surgery from ancient societies to robotic surgery today. His new book is Empire of the Scalpel.